Campaign of the Month:
July 2013

Shadows Over New York

Dr Patricia Fairlane

Dr. Patricia Fairlane was born August 20, 1874, to Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (Son of Queen Victoria) and Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont, the youngest of two children, and their only daughter. At 10 years of age, her father died. At the same time, her magical aptitude began to show, and she was secretly apprenticed to Senior White Council Wizard, Arthur Langtry, who was also Chief Adviser to Queen Victoria. This required her to take up residence with her Grandmother (her mother gave little protest, buried in grief over the death of her beloved Leopold), and soon, Patricia was a common sight

with the British Royal Family. Taught by Royal tutors, she was raised as a proper Victorian Lady, while also spending most of her free time learning magic from her tutor and friend. When Patricia turned 18, she took up a role as an adviser and Lady in Waiting (as well as magical protector) to her Grandmother, and was by her side until the day Queen Victoria passed away in 1901. During her time as Lady-in-waiting, she led many of her Grandmother’s charitable organizations as well as managed her few public appearances.

After her grandmother’s death, Patricia vanished from the Public eye and buried herself in her magical studies, as well as her educational ones. It was at this time her fascination with Ancient Egypt, it’s histroy, people, treasures, mythology, the whole ball of wax, began to emerge. While her magic continued to grow in power as she learned more about it (she favors Spirit and Water evocations), so too did her knowledge of Ancient Egypt. At age 30, 2 years shorter than tradition, she was awarded her doctorate degree in Egyptology, from Oxford University.

On November 5, 1922, Patricia (now Lady Patricia Carnarvon, as her Wizardly Constitution required Patricia Guleph (the last name of The House of Hanover) to have an untimely demise, which was blamed on hemophilia, which ran in her family (her father had it)) partook in the discovery of King Tut’s tomb with Howard Carter and her husband George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, the fifth Earl of Carnarvon. (Little photographic evidence of her participation exists, as her face was still too well known from her time in the British Court. What few photographs do exist, Patricia is a blurry image at best). It was through Patricia’s research and insistence, that Lord Carnarvon sponsored Carter’s expedition. After discovering the first steps of the tomb, and at Patricia’s advice, Carter had his workmen fill in the stairs, covering them so that none were showing. While several of Carter’s most trusted workmen stood guard, Carter left to make preparations. The first of which was contacting Lord Carnarvon in England to share the news of the find. On November 6th, Carter sent a cable: "At last have made wonderful discovery in Valley; a magnificent tomb with seals intact; re-covered same for your arrival; congratulations.”

On November 23rd, Lord Carnarvon and his daughter, Lady Evelyn Herbert, arrived in Luxor. The following day, the workers had again cleared the staircase, now exposing all 16 of its steps and the full face of the sealed doorway. Now Carter found what he could not see before, since the bottom of the doorway had still been covered with rubble – there were several seals on the bottom of the door with Tutankhamun’s name on them. Less than a month later, the Curse of the Tomb, began to take hold, killing Lord Carnarvon. Patricia used every magical means at her disposal to end the curse, even calling on her former teacher (now Merlin of the White Council) for aid, to no avail. The curse continued on its way, killing many of the diggers involved as well as two photographers, and eventually, Patricia’s daughter, Evelyn. At the advice of The Merlin, Lady Patricia Carnarvon also fell prey to the Mummy’s Curse, which only led to the press hoopla regarding the Mummy’s Curse. 10 years later, Howard Carter died, ending the Curse.

Since then, Patricia, now Dr. Patricia Fairlane (in addition to her Oxford degree, she has degrees from Harvard and most recently, Princeton), threw herself into the White Council, with an almost unstoppable quest to protect those without magic from ancient curses, hexes, and other remnants of the Ancient World. She participated in the White Council’s battles with the Necromancer Heinrich Kemmler, and was instrumental in helping destroy the Mummy, Imhotep, which Kemmler had empowered and set loose upon Egypt (With the assistance of fellow Egyptologist Evelyn Carnahan and Evelyn’s future husband, Rick O’Connell. The two inadvertently released the necromantically revived Mummy during an exploration of the ruins of Hamunaptra). With the outbreak of the War with the Red Court, Patricia has been called upon more than once to add her formidable magical ability to the war effort. She also recently took on an apprentice, 21 year old Siobhan Chu, a magical prodigy of Irish and Chinese/Vietnamese descent, and daughter of a close friend of Patricia’s (Wizard Lisa O’Malley, killed in the War by Red Court Vampires, and who was Siobahn’s mother and teacher until she died). Only last year, Patricia took a position with the American Museum of Natural History, as Egyptologist in Residence. 7 months ago, she left with Siobahn (as her assistant) for Egypt, to mount an expedition to look for the true Tomb of Ramses II, third king of the 19th dynasty of ancient Egypt (Remants of Rameses’ treasures have been found in other tombs, but never his true final resting place).